K9 Youth Alliance

K9 Youth Alliance enriches the lives of Youth from under-resourced communities and helps abandoned dogs find permanent homes. In its traditional program model, young people and shelter dogs learn together one-on-one under the mentorship of dedicated staff and volunteers. These three-week programs use reward-based, force-free dog training methods, humane education and animal advocacy to promote leadership and personal growth for Youth while helping shelter dogs find loving homes. K9 Youth Alliance piloted a program variation in 2022. Here, adult volunteers participated in a 3-week training and enrichment program, gaining advanced dog handling experience by training abandoned dogs at the shelter. This program model equips volunteer mentors with a broader range of skills to assist Youth in the traditional program model and serve 2-3 times the number of dogs served in the traditional model.